Fiona's Beast
by J. S. Martin
Summary: A seventeen-year-old girl, confined to a tower for most of her life. A protective, stoic she-dragon. A knight in shining armor with an ugly shell. And a sly shapeshifter with an ugly secret. Shrek AU centered around Fiona, beginning at her castle. Raunchy/Badass!Fiona, Orc!Shrek, Ace!Dragon, and Human!Puss-in-Boots.
1. Solitude

**A/N:** Well, this came out of nowhere. Never thought I'd be writing a Shrek fic. But this idea just sprung itself on me as we were watching the movie over dinner tonight. It's a classic in my family, among others like _Spirited Away, Wayne's World and Kung Pow!_. Shrek has always been my first or second favorite movie. I I did have it coming.

(No i do NOT think Shrek is sexy. He's going to be more of an "orc" in this story, much more rugged and ugly than in the movie. Think Skyrim or WoW, and you'll be closer.)

I hope someone will enjoy this!

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Chapter One: Solitude

* * *

Lonely.

It might as well have been my first name. Princess Lonely, alone in her tower all her life. Grew up alone, laughed alone, cried alone. Died completely, utterly alone. _What did the word even mean anymore?_ I'd said it too much, in my mind and then aloud.

Long, wandering conversations I had with myself, as I rearranged and dusted my room, as I cut, brushed and braided my hair, as I gazed out my only window. A current of sweltering air floated up continually from outside, and when I leaned out it pressed against me. Like it was trying to keep me in. I lay my cheek on the stone windowpane, where the warmth leeched out of my skin. The lava wind brought a blush across my face. And I stared into the sky, wondering why I was alive.

The dragon came into view sometimes. She liked to float on the air drifts over the boiling fire lake, and whenever I heard the sound of her wings I scampered over to watch her. Scintillating maroon scales she had, and great billowing wings with violet webs. I wondered if she felt protective of me, if she felt any sort of affection. If I imagined we had a special bond, it made watching her much more fun.

Every once in a while, if I was lucky, the dragon would come very close. Her presence was mighty, fiery, and thrilling. Heat radiated from in between her scales. I remember very clearly – I've gone over it in my head a hundred times – the day when she flew so close as to put her eye up to my window. The gigantic mossy green orb, with its flashing colors and fierce slash of a pupil – it terrified me. Every day after that, I wished it could happen again.

* * *

Nights were the worst. My body was not my own, and yet _it was._ I prowled, a monster nobody could see and fear. Nobody could feel pity for.

I clawed at the walls, howled and kicked. Some mornings, I woke with my fists pale and bloody.

* * *

For a long time I thought it lucky that my window faced the castle entrance. I could watch the rope bridge every day; sometimes it hung deathly still, and other days it swung gently back and forth, giving way to the hot wind. I grew to hate the bridge. There were never any people on it.

By the time I was twelve I wished my window faced the other way, so that I couldn't torture myself staring out at the rocks, praying to see a hint of movement.

About every week I tried the doorknob. Sort of a ceremony, it became. _Sunday again? Time to try the door. Nope, still locked._

I tried every way possible to break the round, brass knob. I kicked it, again and again, until I was too exhausted to continue. I smashed it with the chair, and that's how the leg broke. I even got a stone loose from the wall, but when I finally lugged it over, it broke in two over the doorknob. _Fucking door._ It was magically sealed: could only be opened from the other side.

After a few years I stopped trying.

I couldn't manufacture a rope long enough to lower myself out of the window, either – not even when I tied all of my sheets and curtains end-to-end. If I jumped, I would die.

Always an option.

* * *

One winter when I must have been seven, I had my first human visitor. Raptly I watched him cross the lake, overjoyed as a little girl could possibly be. _I was finally getting out!_

But the knight never reached my tower. There was a lot of noise from the dragon, roaring, spitting fire. I swear I could hear the moment she slaughtered my first hero.

I cried for weeks.

There weren't a lot of nice surprises in my early life. I reckon at least a dozen knights entered my castle at some point or another. They must all still be down there.

* * *

Mid-summer of my seventeenth year, I lay nibbling a cluster of grapes on the edge of my bed, studying the mosaic floor tiles.

 _Where did I get the food?_ Indeed. My parents did _one_ decent thing for me in my life, and that was enchanting a table in my corner so that the plates on it would fill with food every day when I woke up. It gave me a nice variety of things, vegetables and meats, and always a couple types of fruit. A huge goblet always refilled itself with water.

" _On through the fog now, down to the shallow riverbed,_

 _My paws, they ache, and I will wash this fever from my head._

 _Foul beast, he tricked me now! No more a hunger in his gut,_

 _These deeds have filled the mouth that conned these open eyes to shut…"_

I sang a melodious soprano into the round ceiling, with a mouth half-full of grapes. There was a slight echo, which was nicer than the dead acoustics of singing out the window. Rolling over, I dropped the grapes to the floor.

" _Oh no, you never do me any favors!_ " I screamed into my canopy. " _Whoa, oh! Just draw me a liiiine!_ " It was one of the only songs I knew, taught to me by a handmaid before my confinement. I'd sung thousands of variations on it – perhaps _this_ version was for summoning demons.

" _No, you never do me any faavooorrsss! But still you say –_ "

An earthshattering roar cut me off. _Dragon._ As my bed shook with the tremendous sound, I gritted my teeth.

" _Oh Fuck You!_ Oversized lizard, you've _ruined_ my song!"

I sat up and flipped my auburn hair over my head, then, smoothing it down, decided it was time to brush it. Padding over in bare feet, I retrieved my brush from the shelf.

It might be worth mentioning that I decided this year to stop wearing clothes. I'd gone nude for days before, but eventually I decided clothes were entirely not my style. And since nobody was ever around…

"RRRAAAAAAAAAUGHHHH," the dragon said, her thunderous voice closer to my room this time. "Shut up, Lydia," I called as I began to sort through my tangles. Sitting crosslegged on my rumpled bed, I pulled my hair over my breasts and slowly fed the brush through it. _Perhaps I should cut my hair again_ , I pondered. Suddenly I put the brush down and cupped one boob. I jiggled it, testing. _Nice bounce._

" _RRRACHK!"_ Lydia screeched.

"What the _flying fuck_ is it this time?!" I shouted, leaning out the window. Craning my neck, I realized she had landed atop my tower; her enormous magenta head jutted over, and stared menacingly ahead. Black smoke trailed from her nostrils. Curiously I tried following her gaze.

" _Shit…_ " I could hardly believe it.

Somebody was crossing the bridge.

* * *

 **A/N:** _Ehh?_ Tell me what you think! _To be continued..._

 _Also,_ the song I used is **_Wolf Confessor_** by the **Buried Beds**. It's one of my fav songs ever, and I think it sounds like something Fiona would like to recite. C:


	2. Salvation

**A/N:** Well! I'm not great at battle scenes, but the only way to get better is to write more of them. I hope it's readable!

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Chapter Two: Salvation

* * *

The person was too far away for me to make out details, but as far as I could tell they were tall and dressed darkly. For what seemed like days I stared, absorbed in the tiny moving figure. They stepped wearily across the bridge, careful not to swing it too much. I hadn't really considered that it could break…

I was startled by a loud huff above my head. A dark cloud of smoke enveloped me for a second then dissipated up into the sky.

"Lydia, stay. Don't you dare move. _Lydia. Don't-"_

A huge pounce sent bricks and shingles clattering down the edge of the tower, and the dragon soared toward the bridge. " _Noo_!" I shrieked.

My knight looked up just as Lydia's growling came to a crescendo. I could nearly see the terror in their eyes as the colossal beast swept down upon them, claws outstretched. Dodging her grasp, they broke into a sprint, the bridge quaking. Lydia turned in the air, banking on a hot air drift, and a lick of fire spouted from my guardian's mighty jaws. The dried-up wood of the bridge took up a roaring fire instantly.

I watched, my eyes leaking hot tears from the blistering wind and my tightening throat. "Run, run!" a croak, barely like my voice, cried desperately to the stranger. I felt my heart would burst out of my chest and fall into the lake. They were barely outrunning the fire. I didn't want to see, but my eyes wouldn't close. My hands clamped over my mouth.

Lydia circled, looking for a good angle to catch her prey once its support fell out from under it. I didn't have time to nurture my burning hatred for her at this moment.

As the rope bridge snapped and began to tumble weakly into the lava, my breath caught. And the stranger's hands caught the support poles at the end of the bridge, leaving their legs swinging. In a burst of strength they scrambled up onto the stone porch, and rushed inside, out of my sight.

The dragon gave a roar and dove for the entrance, but she was too late. Her wings beat against the front of the castle and she backed up, snarling with impatience. Gaining height again, she sought the quickest way inside the castle. I fell limply to my bed.

"Fuck that dragon," I moaned. At least this time, they'd made it inside without a scratch. Several knights got picked off before they could clear the bridge, I remember.

"Fuck the dragon…" I scanned my prison desperately. "And fuck this door!" I jumped up, my bright hair flying. My fists, knees and heels pounded the heavy wood. I hit the door as hard as I could, many times, screaming. _Why couldn't this person live?! Why couldn't I help them, and why couldn't I be FREE?!_

I started wrestling the doorknob, but my fingers slipped. Blood had splattered out over my skin, I realized. Shrinking, my knees giving way, I wiped the blood from my hands over the door. The cold floor felt nice on my skin, so there I lay and cried for a few minutes.

Then I stopped, and listened. There was some distant, echoing roaring. It was hard to picture what was going on from just the faint noises. Then after a couple minutes, the crash of Lydia breaking down some stone structure. _Don't get crushed_ , I prayed for my hero.

There was more crashing, and a painful screech.

Then things got very quiet.

I rolled over, too anguished to cry anymore. My heart like a jarring funeral drum, I lay facedown and just tried to forget what was happening. I couldn't let myself think about being let down again.

Lost in a void, I don't know how long I stayed like that. It was a blinding white pain, merciless unlike darkness. I sorted through memories I had from outside my room, patched and painted over so many times I didn't know if they were truth anymore. I imagined the grand ballrooms, glittering, fragrant breakfasts with my parents. Soft, colorful dresses made special for the little princess. I spun around, gleeful, gaining momentum until my toes lifted off the ground, and I twirled in circles up into the ceiling. Dancing with the chandeliers, thousands of candles throwing my shadow onto the walls.

"Princess!"

Yes, I was the princess. Adored so much when she was young, then locked away so nobody could see her. Abandoned to a plan of fate.

"Princess! Are you there?"

I frowned, for the shout was accompanied by a loud banging.

"I'm here…" I muttered, feeling my forehead on the stone floor. _Who was calling me?_

The door swung open.

Strange smells poured into my room. I heard the clatter of metal… _armor?_ My head lifted.

"-Oh!" I squeaked.

A person, standing in my doorway. Inhumanly tall, wearing a full suit of well-worn armor and a visored helmet, and smelling of dirt and smoke. And watching me lie on the floor naked.

I scrambled to my feet, yanked the top blanket off my bed and drew it around myself.

"Y- … You're the princess?" the voice was deeper than the dragon's, gravelly and dark.

I squeezed the blanket tighter around me. "I…. am."

We both stood very still. I could not breathe.

The air was… electric. Having another person in my presence made my skin crawl and my heart flutter – it was almost too much energy for me to handle.

Finally the knight shuffled, a hand lifting to his neck. "Uh…"

I quickly offered my hand, my fingers flayed politely towards the floor, just as I was taught. "Nice to meet you, brave knight," I said in a small voice.

"Your knuckles…" he reached toward my hand but didn't take it. I realized they were still bleeding quite a lot.

"Oh, no worries! It's fine. I'll just…" I went and rummaged under my bed for strips of fabric I'd torn up. "Here," I said, wrapping up my fist and tying it.

"Your other one too."

I shivered. "That hardly matters! It doesn't hurt. Look," I wiped my hand on the blanket hurriedly. "I can't thank you enough for rescuing me. Do you-"

"You're not rescued yet," he boomed. "The dragon's on my trail. Can you… call it off? Subdue it?"

Panic sunk back in again. "Only one way to find out. Um, I think I've still got one dress left…" I rushed to my wardrobe and retrieved my last whole garment. Brushing off the green velvet and gold dress, I looked sheepishly over my shoulder at the stranger. Embarrassedly, he coughed and turned around, leaving me to get dressed.

"There!" I turned with my hands on my hips, like getting dressed was some huge accomplishment. The knight seemed to turn back cautiously. I noticed a huge axe in his hand that I hadn't seen before. It was sticky with what I assumed was Lydia's blood.

"Let's go then." The giant person set to jogging, and I had no choice but to follow.

It was hard to keep my pace up. I hadn't been out of that room for more than ten years, and I was lost in taking in the hallway. The stained-glass windows were vaguely familiar. I could hardly convince myself I wasn't dreaming.

Instead I listened to the ceaseless rattle of my knight's steel armor. He ran steadily as a packhorse, and I picked my way through the rubble behind, careful of my tender bare feet.

Before long we passed the remains of a human body. Bones, draped with tattered remains of rotting flesh, peeked through gaps in the heat-colored battle armor. This person had gotten the farthest. They'd waited here all this time… just dead and forgotten… I tried not to think about it. Move on.

A low rumble made me and the knight freeze. Dust sifted down from the ceiling. I gasped, realizing that for once I wasn't safe from her anymore. "She's looking for us."

"We need to hurry, then." The hulking figure didn't stop to look at me before sprinting onward. I gathered up my dress and ran after him.

We came into a cavernous room, crisscrossed with crumbling staircases. I glimpsed more scorched bodies. Another tremor shook through the castle, and a bit of a railing broke off and tumbled away. The hulking knight crouched, alert and searching for movement.

"Here – we'll ambush it here," he whispered, then ran to take cover behind a stone pile. I tripped on a heavy metal object, and knelt to pick up a sword in shaking hands. Lugging the weapon, I ducked under a staircase.

Who was this knight? I could hardly believe they'd made it to me. Obviously they had tremendous skill. I imagined a huge, obscenely muscled man beneath the armor. Glittering blue eyes. A heroic scowl, determined to protect his bride. Despite my attempts I could hardly see him in his hiding place. But, _Goddess,_ he was _so big!_ Surely he could take Lydia…

"RRREEAAAAAAAAACK!" the air of the room exploded violently, and I prayed the stairs wouldn't collapse on top of me. My hands were sweaty around the sword's leather grip, but I lifted it into what I thought a good fighting position. Crouched defensively, I listened to the crunch of Lydia's feet becoming louder and louder. I'd never heard the growl in her throat at this volume before. My veins throbbed with pure terror, and I clutched the sword so hard that I could feel the wounds on my knuckles tear.

The dragon's footsteps must have been ten yards away. There she stopped. I knew: she could smell me. Did the beast – who was bred to protect me – really plan to kill her treasure?

"Graaaaaaah!"

My attention was caught in whiplash as my hero charged from behind the rocks, loosing a battle cry. I heard Lydia expel a haughty breath, and the rubble cracked beneath her.

I emerged from the stairs just as the dragon's jaws closed on his arm. Perfectly audible was the sound of bones cracking. Lydia slowly lifted the warrior from the ground, and he didn't make a sound. My gut was overturned, wrenched up into my throat.

And I ran at the dragon. Sword raised above my head, I bared my teeth and let my instincts take complete control.

* * *

 **A/N:** Good cliff or no? Ehh, drop me a review! They're what keeps me going and it's my only way to get feedback! I wanna know what you think!


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